“Powerless” finance minister now needs ask bank if Minister has confidence in same bank

First of all, we had the second most powerful elected representative in the State saying he was powerless to adjust salaries and pensions in banks in which controlled 100% of the shares, and today we find out via RTE that the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, when asked if he had confidence in the board and management of IBRC – formerly Anglo and Irish Nationwide – has to contact the bank to find out if he does or doesn’t have confidence, and then doesn’t answer the question he was asked. Confused?

On 19th October 2012, the chairman of IBRC, Alan Dukes who is a veteran colleague of Michael Noonan in Fine Gael, writes to Michael saying he “understands” Minister Noonan has received a question regarding the secondment by Minister Noonan of an employee in his Department of Finance to a senior role at IBRC and that further, Alan Dukes “understands” the question requests Minister Noonan to confirm his “continued confidence in the Board and management of the Bank [IBRC]”

“if he will confirm the reasons a person (details supplied) from his Department was appointed to an initial six month secondment in Irish Bank Resolution Corporation; if he will detail his exact role; if he will confirm the reason it was considered appropriate to second his Department official into IBRC now and not before; if he will confirm that he retains confidence in both the board and management of IBRC; and if he will make a statement on the matter”

(1) Deputy Adams submits question to Minister Noonan, asking for information and opinion that should have been entirely in the Minister’s own realm and the realm of the Department of Finance, to provide

(2) Somehow, the question was passed to IBRC, even though the information requested should have been entirely available in the realm of the Department of Finance which seconded Neil Ryan to IBRC.

(3) We then have the chairman of IBRC expressing “significant concern” that Minister Noonan has been asked to express confidence in IBRC

(4) We finally have the answer from Minister Noonan – shown below – which doesn’t express confidence in the bank, it merely says that seconding an employee from the Department of Finance doesn’t betoken a lack of confidence.

Seemingly, the “powerless” minister, when asked if he has confidence in something, needs consult with that something. And this is the key minister negotiating our bank debt with the ECB!

This is the entire parliamentary question and response. RTE was responsible for obtaining the letter shown above, but having considered the letter and the PQ, you might conclude the RTE reporting of the matter today isn’t entirely accurate.

Deputy Gerry Adams : if he will confirm the reasons a person (details supplied) from his Department was appointed to an initial six month secondment in Irish Bank Resolution Corporation; if he will detail his exact role; if he will confirm the reason it was considered appropriate to second his Department official into IBRC now and not before; if he will confirm that he retains confidence in both the board and management of IBRC; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan: The secondment arrangement for the person referred to in the question is appropriate at this time as IBRC continues to explore opportunities for deleveraging with a view to maximising the recovery for the taxpayer. The addition of this person to the bank’s senior management team, as Head of Market Solutions, brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge to IBRC and will further strengthen the organisation. This arrangement does not in any way infer any lack of confidence on my part in the Board and management of the bank in carrying out the mandate of the bank. The person referred to in the question’s experience in banking coupled with experience as Assistant Secretary in the Dept. of Finance will serve to assist the IBRC management team in identifying deleveraging opportunities and the formulation of strategy. As Head of Market Solutions at IBRC, this person is responsible for all aspects of deal execution in respect of certain designated portfolios. In addition as a member of the Bank’s Group Executive Committee (GEXCO) and the Transaction Review Committee, this person will participate fully in the formulation of strategy for IBRC as a whole.

UPDATE: 12th December, 2012. There was a follow-up question from Deputy Gerry Adams to Minister Noonan on 13th November, 2012, when the Minister does in fact express himself to be “fully confident in the management and the board of IBRC”

Deputy Gerry Adams: To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 138 of 23 October 2012, if he will confirm irrespective of his statement that the secondment of a person (details supplied) into Irish Bank Resolution Corporation should not be adversely inferred as a lack of confidence by him in the management or board of the bank; if it is the case that he retains confidence in the management and the board of IBRC; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan : I can confirm that the appointment of this person to IBRC does not in any way reflect a lack of confidence by me in the management or board of the bank. The appointment has proved to be very beneficial for both IBRC and my Department by improving communication between the organisations. I am fully confident in the management and the board of IBRC and I am satisfied that the new appointment is a positive step in the continuing goal of winding down IBRC and maximising the eventual return to the taxpayer.

Would the real monitoring trustee please stand up…pg46 link above.
Why go to the trouble and expense of having a nurtured board.
“It shall be the duty of the Monitoring Trustee to ensure compliance with the conditions and obligations attached to the Decision and guarantee implementation of the restructuring and work-out plan.”

A role that was made “collaboratively” between the Dof and IBRC? As much as to say that as collaborators we must cover for one another. This was the “our” public interest director now Chairman of the bank the whole thing stinks to high heaven and Dukes is an absolute disgrace. Who can forget his petulant display before the PAC when he more or less told Shane Ross to buzz off and don’t be annoying me? There is far too much “collaboration” between politicians and public servants with files going missing, notes that were not taken etc. All this is eating the country up from the inside out. They think there need not be any end to cover up’s. To date, they have played the man in the street for fools and have got away with it. A s far as they are concerned, they can walk on water and are above the law of the land and one would have to say all the evidence supports this view.

A s far as they are concerned, they can walk on water and are above the law of the land and one would have to say all the evidence supports this view.

There is no law in the land when it comes to the Golden Circle, and there is no doubt that IBRC is a Golden Circle Bank.

FG, with Dukes at the helm, have made a reverse takeover of Anglo and Nationwide, once FFs own private banks. This bank will never die, and may end up taking deposits again before too long. It will fund the next three generations of corruption in this state.

But the most shameful and treacherous actors in all of this have been the officials in the Department of Finance. Under FF or FG, it’s all the same. The DoF looks after its friends in the banking sector. They conspired with BoI and AIB to bail those banks out at public expense, and now even with Anglo, the one bank they didn’t want in on the bailout, the DoF continues to conspire to keep its employees, debtors and creditors in the style to which they have become accustomed.

And DoF officials can continue to expect lucrative posts in the banking sector. I wouldn’t let a DoF official look after a goal post!

Anglo should have been liquidated. Period. It should still happen. Do it before Christmas. It would be a gift to the Irish people. It was a fraudulent bank and that fact will be proven over the next couple of years. It was perpetrating fraud on it clients for years.

im trying get my hands on a copy of the ‘Anglo Third Restructuring Plan” the EU has it,not sure if a ‘yank’ can file a FOI-if anyone has the plan please share……..ah now Michael Martin again!
“On 26 October 2010, Ireland submitted a work-out plan for Anglo (hereinafter
referred to as “the third Anglo restructuring plan”), explaining in detail how it
would implement the work-out of the entity which had been presented for the first time in its submission of 31 August 2010.
(13) In the subsequent weeks, the Commission services requested some clarifications and sought additional information on 29 October 2010. The Irish authorities replied in a number of e-mail exchanges and conference calls”
l
ink above-blow is MM memo.

I believe that this is the first time that Anglo’s fraudulent activity in the UK has been ‘fessed up to. Now if only someone would tell the SEC in the USA, we might see some real cleaning out of the bad apples.

By the way our research shows that the confession only relates to less than 50% of the actual interest overcharging scam.

Good thing I’m not in the country anymore – i might be inclined to vote for the Shinners!

235. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if as part of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation internal review of historical interest rate settings,the bank is reviewing interest rates applied to loan accounts in the UK and if IBRC has set aside money for repaying customers with loan accounts in the UK. [52731/12]

236. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he or Irish Bank Resolution Corporation are assured by the internal review of historical interest rate settings that Anglo Irish Banks Treasury Department (UK) was not overstating the London Interbank Offered Rate rate in the years under review or in any years beyond those under review. [52732/12]

237. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if as part of its internal review of historical interest rate settings, if the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation is reviewing interest rates applied to loan accounts in any jurisdiction after 2004. [52733/12]

I have been advised by IBRC that the review of historical interest rates applied to loan accounts, which was disclosed in the Bank’s annual report of December 2010, covered loans advanced to customers in Ireland, USA, Isle of Man and the UK in the period from 1990 to 2005. The total cost of refunds for all jurisdictions is estimated at €45m to €50m. The Bank is satisfied that the overcharging that was identified and disclosed in 2010 ceased in July 2004 for loans advanced in Ireland, USA and the Isle of Man. In respect of loans advanced in the UK the Bank is satisfied that the overcharging ceased in January 2005.

125. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of personal and or commercial loan accounts in Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, in which he is the shareholder of 100% of the shares, were found to have been charged interest rates in excess of those permitted by contractual arrangements between bank and customer and the amount of money and or credit that was refunded to such accounts in 2009, 2010 and 2011. [55094/12]

128. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation or its predecessor repossessed property and or appointed receivers to assets of any account holder who was charged interest rates in excess of those permitted by contractual arrangements between bank and customer. [55097/12]

Minister for Finance (Deputy Michael Noonan): I propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 128 together.

I have been advised that it is not the practice of IBRC to disclose detailed information in relation to the dealings of any individual account holder with the Bank. However, the Bank has informed me that it previously disclosed that it had made a provision of €67m, following an internal review of historical interest rate setting procedures, as applied to certain loan accounts. This internal review, which was conducted in 2010, addressed the period from 1990 to 2005 to determine whether interest rates applied to customer loan accounts were consistent with the terms of the customer loan documentation. The Bank is nearing completion of this project and has made refunds to affected customers. The total cost of the refunds is now estimated at €45m to €50m.

126. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of personal and or commercial loan accounts in Allied Irish Banks, in which he is the shareholder of 99.8% of the shares, including the Educational Building Society, were found to have been charged interest rates in excess of those permitted by contractual arrangements between bank and customer and the amount of money and or credit that was refunded to such accounts in 2009, 2010 and 2011. [55095/12]

Minister for Finance (Deputy Michael Noonan): I have been informed by the bank that any queries related to matters such as instances of potential overcharging are dealt with on a case by case basis by the bank with individual customers. Any potential broader issues which affect a greater population of customers are dealt with via established procedures in consultation with the Central Bank as regulator.

127. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of personal and or commercial loan accounts in Permanent TSB, in which he is the shareholder of 99.5% of the shares, were found to have been charged interest rates in excess of those permitted by contractual arrangements between bank and customer and the amount of money and or credit that was refunded to such accounts in 2009, 2010 and 2011. [55096/12]

Minister for Finance (Deputy Michael Noonan): I have been advised that Permanent TSB has approximately 1.8 million customer accounts. Given this volume of accounts it is inevitable that from time to time errors will arise and Permanent TSB is committed to minimising such errors, and where they do occur, ensuring that the errors are rectified as soon as possible. Permanent TSB has informed me that in the years 2009-2011 inclusive there have been incorrect interest rates charged on a total of 838 accounts. This represents less than 0.05% of the number of accounts in operation during that time. The total amount of refunds given was €4.3 million, the majority of which occurred in 2010. During this time period PTSB had interest receivable of €3.8 billion so the total amount refunded is just 0.1% of interest receivable in the period.

The data relates to mortgage loans where the customer paid an interest rate in excess of the agreed rate. These errors have been notified through the Banks Customer Impact process or through a project forum from 2009 to date. Customers impacted by these errors have received remediation in compliance with the Consumer Protection Code and the Central Bank was advised as required under that Code.

@WSTT not sure if you keeping up with the ‘news’ back home but the litigation is simply pilling up.A few cases in the US too,Fir Tree,Africa Israel and there was some litigation over a few Manhattan hotels. Agree with your earlier comment it should be closed down,its a contingent liability.
Not too mention the Quinn’s………..

“Legal papers linked to more than a dozen separate actions have been filed at the High Court over the past two months, naming Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) Assurance as defendant.”

Regarding voting for SF….they dropped the ball,missed an opportunity on the abortion issue,Mary Lou was an embarrassment on VB and they silenced an excellent TD,very very discouraging and dispiriting.
Speaking of which VB has moved to something called “Roku” cant watch it in states anymore.Yeah I’m rushing out to buy one……….

“We now have a new home on the Roku box where all your favourite, award-winning TV3 programming as well as latest Irish news are available to view.”